There will be much number-crunching tomorrow, but preliminary numbers (at least in Virginia) show that GOP turnout remained the same as last year, but Democratic turnout collapsed. This is a base problem, and this is what Democrats better take from tonight:
If you abandon Democratic principles in a bid for unnecessary "bipartisanship", you will lose votes.
If you water down reform in favor of Blue Dogs and their corporate benefactors, you will lose votes.
If you forget why you were elected -- health care, financial services, energy policy and immigration reform -- you will lose votes.
Tonight proved conclusively that we're not going to turn out just because you have a (D) next to your name, or because Obama tells us to. We'll turn out if we feel it's worth our time and effort to vote, and we'll work hard to make sure others turn out if you inspire us with bold and decisive action.
The choice is yours. Give us a reason to vote for you, or we sit home. And you aren't going to make up the margins with conservative voters. They already know exactly who they're voting for, and it ain't you.
Health care should have been passed by the August recess, but to have it go on and on has been a huge mistake. And waiting until next year only makes it worse.
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So nice to see Sean Hannity isn't too concerned about ClusterFox being seen as an arm of the Republican Party with this latest hackery. On his Friday evening show on Fox he brought on Michele Bachmann to help promote her call for people to come protest the halls of Congress against the health care bill--as though they don't have enough problems with dealing with security as it is. If she wants people to show up in the Congressional halls next week, I hope they're showing up at her office to tell her to quit upping the ante with whipping up the crazies out there. The only time I've heard someone use the phrase "the whites of their eyes", it had to do with shooting someone.
Given Bachmann's lack of concern for her previous inflammatory rhetoric this is of little surprise. It seems she's not going to stop this stuff until someone gets hurt or killed out there. What's absolutely disgusting is the lack of will of from anyone in the GOP to tell her to stop it. While I certainly do not think that Michele Bachmann is hoping any harm will come to another member of Congress, she obviously is either oblivious to or just doesn't care what sort of response using this type of language might invoke.
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) is urging Americans to come to Washington, D.C., next week to roam the halls of Congress and lobby lawmakers against the House Democrats' healthcare reform plan.
The strategy aims at resurrecting the momentum Republicans enjoyed during the August recess, when many critics challenged their members of Congress on healthcare reform. Since then, Democrats have regained their footing and have captured some political momentum to pass a bill.
During an appearance on Fox's "Hannity," Bachmann on Friday night said the plan can be defeated, but only if critics make their case face-to-face with legislators.
Bachmann told conservative commentator Sean Hannity, "The clock is ticking 11:59 ...I've never done this before but I am asking people to come to Washington, D.C., by the carload and next Thursday at noon I'll be at a press conference on the steps of the Capitol.
"I'd love to have every one of your viewers to join me so we can go up and down through the halls, find members of Congress, look at the whites of their eyes and say, 'Don't take away my healthcare.'"
In an interview with the Washington News Observer, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) revealed that, next week in Washington, D.C., the right wing is trying to galvanize yet another mass protest rally against health reform.
Following in the spirit of the “tea party” protests in April and the Glenn Beck-inspired 9/12 rally, Bachmann announced, “We’re going to have a ‘house call’ and a big party out on the National Mall [next week], and we’re going to tell Congress what they can do with their health care bill.”
Fashioning herself as the leader of this mass protest, Bachmann exhorted everyone to “get off the couch, get in your car, get a van together, get a bus together, but get here! We’re going to have a ‘house call’ next week, and we need every American to be here.” She then issued this dire warning (infused with pop culture references):
The American people realize this is it. Just like that brand new Michael Jackson movie came out, ‘This Is It.’ This is it for freedom. If you believe in liberty, and if you’re rejecting tyranny, this is it. Dr. Mark Levin wrote a seminal book that really swept this country called Liberty and Tyranny. And that’s what this debate is about next week. Liberty and tyranny.
Newshounds also had a nice run down of the entire interview Bachmann did on Hannity's show and had this to add:
As the segment ended, Bachmann could barely contain her joy as she said that the Blue Dog Democrats “are clearly on the fence.” She added, “That’s why this is such an exciting opportunity for us… This is our liberty and tyranny moment. This is it! This is about patriotism and manning up. And if we can get Americans literally by the busload to come to Washington, D.C. next week, look their Member of Congress in the eye, pay a house call on Congress, and say ‘Don’t you dare take away my health care,’ … we’ll stop this.”
After another plug for her event, Hannity said, “Maybe I’ll have to show up and observe this so our cameras can see democracy in action.”
It's funny, but while Bachmann was crowing about patriotism and participation in democracy, and asking Americans from all over the country to visit different Representatives (not just their own, presumably), she refuses to accept emails from anyone outside her district. But you can telephone. So if you can't make it to Washington either to support the bill or to let Bachmann know she does not represent the country which consistently supports a public option for health insurance, you can call her office at (202) 225-2331.
Will he or won't he? Everyone's waiting to see what President Obama will say in tomorrow night's speech. Will he draw a line in the sand over the public option? Despite the president's rousing speech yesterday, this article makes it seem doubtful.
Here's the problem in a nutshell: President Obama is looking for "something he can call a public option," not an actual public option. He wants a political compromise above an actual solution - an approach which may work on some issues, but is ill-suited to the magnitude of this health care crisis:
Amid fresh signs that the White House is preparing to back a scaled-down health care overhaul that would only include a public insurance option as a fallback plan, several House liberals told Roll Call that they could support such a bill depending on how it was structured.
The “trigger” approach has been considered a deal-killer by liberals on and off Capitol Hill, and the willingness of some Congressional Progressive Caucus members to entertain it reflects a recognition that a bruising August recess has imperiled prospects for reform and redrawn expectations for what is possible.
“This is a way to get a bill,” Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) said. “I believe it’s worth listening to because I want legislation that is going to, in some shape or form, expand coverage and bring down the cost of health care.”
Boy, that's a far cry from what we heard a year ago, isn't it? Because we're not all that interested in Massachusetts-style mandates that not only aren't worth anything to people whose budgets are already stretched too thin, it imposes an additional burden for the privilege. And it sounds like the progressive caucus is starting to crack.
Liberals stressed that the shift does not amount to an abandonment of their commitment to a “robust” public insurance option. They said they would only support a trigger if that approach guaranteed the same access, quality and affordability.
“I don’t want to give the impression that I’m so flexible that I’m willing to compromise away meaningful reform,” Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said. “But there may be a variety of ways of getting there than the one I originally formulated in my mind.”
The development could open a path forward for the White House, which has so far been vexed by the threat of a liberal rebellion in the House if it backs off a far-reaching public insurance option or a revolt by Senate moderates if it insists on one.
In advance of a make-or-break address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, President Barack Obama took the temperature of leading House liberals on a Friday conference call. Leaders of the Progressive Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus sat in on the call and reiterated their support for a strong public insurance option, Progressive Caucus Co-Chairwoman Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) said. Obama did not make any definitive statements and asked for a follow-up meeting today or Wednesday.
“It sounded like he was trying to figure out how he could get something he could call a public option, regardless of what it is,” one staffer familiar with the call said.
White House officials have been exploring the possibility of a trigger in negotiations with Republican moderate Sen. Olympia Snowe (Maine), a member of the gang of six on the Senate Finance Committee that has been struggling to forge a bipartisan agreement.
Basically, his strategy is to wait until the very last second to insert President Obama back into the debate after it gets away from him. Unfortunately, it also reflects how badly the president has handled the situation by not standing behind any firm idea one way or another. We saw it again and again during the campaign and David is doing it just that with health care reform.
The White House says Obama may detail his health care goals before Senate negotiators finish.
The president is considering a speech in the next week or so in which he would be "more prescriptive" about what he feels Congress must include in a bill, top adviser David Axelrod said Tuesday in an interview. The speech might occur before the Sept. 15 deadline the White House gave to Senate negotiators to seek a bipartisan bill, Axelrod said. He suggested that two key Republicans have not bargained in good faith.
Congress reconvenes next Tuesday after an August recess in which critics of Obama's health proposals dominated many public forums.
Some Obama allies, watching his approval ratings tumble in polls along with support for a health care overhaul, have urged the president to take a more hands-on approach. They feel he gave too much leeway to Congress, where one bill has passed three House committees, another has passed a Senate committee and a third has been bogged down in protracted negotiations in the Senate Finance Committee.
Axelrod indicated that Obama would not offer new proposals but would be more specific about his top priorities.
"The ideas are all there on the table," Axelrod said. "Now we are in a new phase, and it's time to pull the strands of these together."
He said there is serious discussion in the White House of Obama "giving a speech that lays out in specific ways what he thinks" about the essential elements of a health care bill.
Axelrod said it was possible that the speech could occur before a planned Sept. 15 Obama address on health care in Pittsburgh.
Obama has called for innovations such as a public health insurance plan to compete with private insurers, but he has not insisted on it. It was not clear Tuesday the degree to which he might press for various proposals in a new speech.
Obama also plans to meet with Democratic congressional leaders on Tuesday.
Axelrod condemned recent comments by two chief Senate Republican negotiators -- Charles Grassley of Iowa and Mike Enzi of Wyoming -- who have sharply criticized key elements of Democrats' health care plans even as they insisted that a workable bipartisan plan was possible...read on
A tip: When a reporter quotes a single source in a story (quoting him eight times, no less) and then has a random controversial comment from "an aide" -- chances are that aide is Axelrod.
Axelrod apparently is missing the polls.
August Quinnipiac national poll (question 23): 62% support a public option. 80% of Dems, 64% of Independents, and even 40% of Republicans
August Research 2000 poll of Max Baucus's "red state" Montana constituents: 47% support and 44% oppose the public option
August Research 2000 poll of Blue Dog Jim Cooper's constituents: 61% support and 28% oppose the public option
Axelrod -- do you know the surest way to ensure that Dems running in 2010 have a diminished base and lose independent voters? Force them to oppose the public option!
The Republicans won't participate, of course. The liberals he armtwists will resent him for forcing them to walk the plank with their own voters. His base will be demoralized and verging on active hostility. The mythical "center" will shrug their shoulders and move on to the next issue. (They are, by their own definition, disloyal.) Only the Blue Dog and DLC politicians who got paid by the medical industry will happily stand by his side at the signing ceremony, with visions of lobbyist cash dancing in their heads. I hope he really, really likes them because they will be the only enthusiastic supporters he has left after this.
I have a question: is it true that Real Americans greatly admire politicians who loathe their own supporters and publicly and repeatedly kick them once they obtain office? I honestly don't know the answer to that, but it seems that the Democrats are convinced of it. It's an interesting psychology, to say the least, but one which I have never understood.
Update: Keep in mind that it ain't over til it's over. Obama is worried about his approval ratings, but he's not stupid. He sees the same legislative roadblocks that everyone else sees and has to realize by now that the path to health care is through the Democratic Party alone. And that means the liberal are still in play whether he likes it or not.
AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Richard Trumka told the press that this means the 11 million member-strong labor organization “won’t support the bill if it doesn’t have the public option in it.” Today, Trumka appeared on MSNBC and explained to Norah O’Donnell that the inclusion of these three elements marks the difference between “coming up with a bill that you have reform and actually having health insurance reform.”
So the Baucus debacle now seems dead, reconciliation for healthcare reform more likely than ever, and the Dems' slipping poll numbers arguing for bolder, conclusive action--for change we can believe in. All this leads to an interesting situation for Obama and Congress, as Greg point out:
Interestingly, this has created a built-in tension: While Senate Dems have more control over whether health care succeeds, the stakes are higher for House Dems. It’s a tougher cycle for the House, aides say, meaning they’d likely face bigger losses if Senate Dems can’t resolve their impasse with Republicans or if they don’t opt for reconciliation to get reform done.
Either way, if they look hard enough, liberals can locate something of a silver lining in all the bad news: It ups the pressure on Congressional Dems not just to do health care this year, but do it right.
I find it hard to believe that the White House would be so stupid as to think that making the least popular choices to the majority of Americans making under $50,000-$60,000/year would be just the ticket to increase the President's popularity. Actually, just kidding, I don't find it so hard.
It goes on and on...Now it's suddenly becoming the Olympia Snowe Bill from CNN's Ed Henry:
HENRY: My colleague Dana Bash and I have learned from a source, each one of us, that this White House right now is very quietly in serious conversations with Republican Senator Olympia Snowe, a key moderate. She is basically the last Republican out of those gang of six senators who have been negotiating, really the last Republican that has an open line to this White House right now. What we're hearing that she's talking about with White House staff is sort of a scaled-back bill that would focus on insurance reforms that both sides could agree to, but would not have a full public option, instead, would have a so-called trigger.
What that means in layman's terms is basically that the insurance companies would have a couple of years to make some dramatic changes. If they do not make those changes, then a public option would be triggered. So, it would be used down the road. They would hope that this would appease liberals by saying it's not completely off the table. And the big hope is that this could bring along another moderate Republican, like maybe Susan Collins of Maine, some conservative Democrats, like Ben Nelson and Mary Landrieu in the Senate, who don't want a public option, but would sort of potentially be open to a trigger like this.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The lead Republican senator in bipartisan health care negotiations said Tuesday that he urged President Obama this month to make clear he would accept a bill without a government-funded public insurance option.
"I told the president then that he needed to make public whether or not he could sign a bill that didn't have a public option in it," Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa said on Radio Iowa. "He didn't have to take a position against a public option, but would he sign a bill that wouldn't have a public option in it, and I thought a statement from him would be very helpful."
Grassley and the five other bipartisan negotiators met with the president on August 6 to discuss their efforts toward a health care bill that can pass the Senate Finance Committee in September, when Congress returns from its August recess.
On Saturday, Obama said the "public option, whether we have it or we don't have it, is not the entirety of health care reform."
Then on Sunday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said a public option is "not an essential element" of overhauling the health care system.
Why is President Obama so much more concerned with what Republicans want? It's a mystery!
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Rachel Maddow examines how one former disgraced Bush official, Thomas Scully is influencing the health care debate.
MADDOW: During the Bush years, there were quite a few administration officials who were forced to leave their jobs under dark clouds. There was Claude Allen, for example, President Bush's domestic policy adviser who left after shoplifting a whole bunch of stuff from Target.
There was Bush's aides czar, Randall Tobias, famous for telling foreign countries they couldn't get any American money to fight AIDS unless they cracked down on hookers. Mr. Tobias resigned, of course, after his name turned up on the client list of the D.C. madame.
There was David Safivian, the head of procurement at the White House, who was busted in the Jack Abramoff scandal. There was Steven Griles, number two guy at Interior Department who was also busted in the Jack Abramoff scandal.
Actually, if I keep listing how many Bush administration officials were busted in the Abramoff scandal, we're going to be here a long time. But suffice to say, there were a lot of dark clouds over a lot of Bush administration resignations. One of them was President Bush's administrator of Medicare, a man named Thomas Scully.
Mr. Scully's career in government took a turn for the infamous after he ordered another government official to withhold information from Congress. That information was: how much President Bush's Medicare prescription drug benefit would cost. Publicly, the Bush administration was saying it would cost no more than $400 billion. Privately, they knew it was more like $600 billion. But Thomas Scully made sure that Congress never knew that.
A Bush administration investigation found that Mr. Scully threatened to fire the actuary who came up with the real cost figures if that actuary gave those real cost numbers to Congress. And while he was doing that, Mr. Scully was also busy getting himself a special waiver that would allow him to get a job as a health industry lobbyist as soon as he left government.
So, think about this for a second. He helped that prescription bill get passed by hiding its true costs, then he immediately went to work for companies who stood to make a mint from the fact that he got that bill passed. It's nice work, if you can get it, right?
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(Rep. John McCormack (D-Mass) - Rep. Hugh Scott (R. Penn.) - lots of love in that room . . .of a kind.)
In case you were wondering if the cantankerous nature of Capitol Hill was some phenomenon of recent years, let me put you at ease by saying no, it's always been that way.
This broadcast, part of the American Forum Of The Air series from July 25, 1954, features Representative John McCormack (D-Mass.) and Representative Hugh Scott (R.Penn.) discussing what the 83rd Congress has accomplished, just as the House and Senate go on their August recess. The subjects range from taxes to the end of the Korean conflict and the bubbling unrest in Southeast Asia - Vietnam in particular.
McCormick: “ There’s a truce made that could’ve been made far better a year, year and a half prior to the time the truce was made. As the result of it, the Chinese Reds were relieved of their commitments in North Korea and they were able to drive down into Indochina and they were able to help the Communist forces in Indochina. Now coming to the Indochina truce . . . .
Scanlon (interviewer): “Do you think the war should have continued Congressman?” –
Moderator: “Hold it . . . .”
McCormick: “None of us . . .we’re not agreed to . . .we’re not satisfied with that. I’m satisfied that England and France have some kind of deals on that are not for our best interest. I’m suspicious of England and France in connection with what’s going on. I think you and I probably would agree pretty much in that respect. I’m very suspicious about this increase in trade which Mr. Stassen has permitted to go on with the Communist bloc as a peace gesture
Hugh Scott: “ Before you change the subject is there any shooting war going on anywhere in the world today, was my statement . . .
McCormick: “Do you think there’s peace in the world today? There’s certainly not peace in the world today. All I know is, that there’s a couple of million more unfortunate people in Vietnam who are now under the Communists, about a million of them happen to be communicants of the Catholic Church of which you and I are also communicants and I can imagine what kind of rough living they’re going to have under the Communists when they consolidate, the liquidation process they’re going to go through, and I hope there’ll be a good pact established down there that will be able to stop the Communists. But I am fearful there will be extreme difficulty in that respect. I’m hopeful and I will join in a bi-partisan way that will bring any efforts to bring about a pact in Southeast Asia that will stop the Communist on-rush.”
Well . . .more prophetic words weren't spoken much that year. But it did signal what would become our endless Vietnam odyssey soon enough.
McCormack and Scott spar and agree on very little, but they hold their ground. In the end it provides an interesting insight as to the historic nature of government and how discourse can work.
Grover, since you've always been such a kind and caring (translation: really creepy) American, I thought I'd help you out by further explaining your new talking points on health-care reform:
Over the August recess, Congressmen will be holding townhalls on health care. There’s likely to be a lot of spin and doubletalk from very nervous Democrat members. We’ve assembled a dictionary to help you wade through the rhetoric and understand the real impact of healthcare “reform.”
No discrimination for pre-existing conditions: \prē-ēx-sisting con-df-shun\
One can wait until one gets sick to sign up for coverage, and thereby game the system, costing the rest of us.
Also: n. trick, fraud, ploy
Also: v. cheat, dupe, fleece
Hey, hon, I know you know better than this. We all know the insurance companies have been using harmless conditions like teen acne as an excuse to deny coverage to a 50-year-old. Shame on you, Grover!
No exorbitant out-of-pocket expenses, deductibles or co-pays: \per-sŭn-al ex-pen-sĕs\
You can’t have a health savings account (HSA) even if you
want to keep one. If you want to save money on your premium
by having a high deductible, the government won’t let you
Also: v. coerce, coercion, coerced
Grover, I know HSAs are an element of Republican faith (see Golden Rule) but believe it or not, we have actual studies (done by people who aren't employed by conservative think tanks, so they might be true!) showing people delay needed care because of high deductibles and co-pays - leading to more complicated, serious illness. Not that you care.
No cost-sharing for preventive care: \prē-ven-tĭv kâr\
An unelected and unaccountable government board of bureaucrats will decide what procedures must be first-dollar, even if you don’t value them
See: arbitrary price inflation
Oh Grover, I know that "bubble" elites like yourself just don't understand: Unelected and unaccountable INSURANCE bureaucrats are making those decisions right now - and people are dying as a result.
No dropping of coverage if you become seriously ill:
\ ĭn-shûr-əns kŭv-ər-ĭj\
This only happens in Helen Hunt movies, but Congress will demagogue it anyway to scare us.
See: global warming hysteria, cap-and-trade
No gender discrimination: \jen-der dee-scrim-in-a-shun\
You’ll be forced to have your tax dollars pay for abortion and other things you disagree with. You’ll also be forced to purchase a plan which covers abortion on demand for all nine months
See: conscience clause
First of all, Grover, for the past eight years, I've had to pay for all kinds of things I disagree with: A trumped-up war, torture, tax breaks for the top one percent... Normally, I'd say, hey, the other guy won and he gets to do what he wants, but I'm pretty sure your guy stole the election with help from the Supreme Court.
And the part about "abortion on demand"? That's an outright lie, and you know it. At this point, it looks like abortion won't be covered at all. But you just don't care, because you'll push any button that works to keep your corporate overlords from losing this fight.
No annual or lifetime caps on coverage: \kăps\
Congress will tell insurance companies how they have to price their coverage and determine risk
See: arbitrary price inflation
You're right on this one, Grover. No more people denied expensive, life-saving cancer treatment because they were also in a bad car accident 20 years earlier. Boo hoo.
Extended coverage for young adults: \əx-stən-dəd kŭv-ər-ĭj\
1.“Children” up to age 30 will be able to stay on their parents’ insurance at taxpayer expense
2. Inculcating the culture of entitlement and preening a generation of welfare-dependents
See: slackers, mom’s basement
Actually, Grover, you may not know this but there's a major unemployment crisis outside that privileged bubble in which you live. Many of these young adults are so desperate to find work and pay their school loans, they're taking minimum wage jobs with no benefits. It would be nice to know that if they get sick, they won't have to die to impress people like you.
Guaranteed insurance renewal so long as premiums are paid: \gâr-ŭn-tēd ĭn-shûr-əns\
Another red herring that Congress will use to scare people into adopting government medicine
Also: scare tactic
Today, House members are back home to begin their month-long recess. The far right has indicated that they plan to welcome many of their representatives with large, angry throngs (“town halls gone wild”). The corporate lobbyists engineering these “grassroots” efforts have indicated their harassment strategy is to “yell,” “stand up and shout,” and “rattle” the members. Politico reported that Democratic members of Congress are increasingly being confronted by “angry, sign-carrying mobs and disruptive behavior” at local town halls. This past weekend, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) was the latest victim of the right’s strategy, where protesters followed him and chanted “just say no” to health care.
We've all seen it before. I wonder how many of these teabaggers actually have health insurance and are working. This should have been expected because it's all too familiar. Digby links to this piece by PBS that charts the fight for health care. A Detailed Timeline of the Healthcare Debate portrayed in "The System." It's a facinating look at the time line of events.You'll notice that Newt Gingrich raised the flag that health care was coming and republicans should do everything they could to destroy it.
Spring 1991 - Minority Whip Newt Gingrich, in a private discussion about long-term Republican political strategy, predicts that the "next great offensive of the Left," as he puts it, will be "socializing health care." Gingrich declares the need for hardline Republicans to begin positioning themselves now to keep Democrats from winning in the future.
I'm sure the Democrats all remember this and are prepared for it this time. Right?
If you haven't read the entire PBS timeline on how health care reform was derailed in 1994 recently, do yourself a favor and read it. The legislative side has an eerily familiar feel to it, especially the part where the Democrats in the Senate preen egomaniacally while selling out reform to the insurance industry and the Republicans. You'll recall that the Republicans consciously pumped Whitewater in the press to create a distraction for the public and fuel mass protest among their own base. It's a sign of their impotence that the best they could come up with this time was a fringy clown show like the birthers, but it's certainly done its job among the 58% of Republicans who now aren't sure if Obama is actually an illegal alien. This stuff is evergreen.
If you can, please attend any town hall meeting in your area and try to bring some sanity to it or expose these phony populists for what they are. If you can, interview the teabaggers and send me the video at crooksandliars@gmail.com or crooksandliarsvideos@gmail.com. It will be up to the progressive groups also to organize activists to offset what Republicans hope to accomplish. The Democratic party should have expected this. That's why I asked President Obama to demand that Congress work through the August recess. You can depend on Max Baucus to do his part and screw up health care for all Americans. He sold us out before.
August will be littered with images of the Zombie Plumbers disrupting town hall meetings because the media just loves this stuff. As usual, they won't give proper context or explain who these teabaggers are, and Americans will view these wackos on the news as a legitimate effort by patriotic Americans who are against changes to the health care system instead of explaining who they really are. I hate to bring this up, but do you remember how the media handled the six weeks leading up to the Pennsylvania Democratic primary? It was pretty frightening. That's what we can expect this month, and it won't be pretty.
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[H/t Heather]
When I think of how much the Bush administration shoved down the country's throat on strictly partisan votes, it makes me crazy when Democrats start talking about being bipartisan. This kind of talk by Tim Geithner on This Week with George Stephanopoulous is more like it:
STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me ask you about health care. The negotiations seem to stall out in the Senate, they are going to try to come back by Sept 15th. The House committees have all passed the bill. One of the things that, Senator Grassley, we just saw, is asking about is that he says he wants some assurance, some guarantees really, that whatever deal, if they strike a deal, a bipartisan deal in the Senate finance committee it's going to hold all the way through the process. The Senate floor, the House floor, the conference committee, can the administration give him that assurance?
GEITHNER: I think that is what every legislator wants. They want that to be of confidence.
STEPHANOPOULOS: They are not going to get it through?
GEITHNER: You know, (chuckles), we want to have an outcome that meets these core principles the President laid out. Which is we want to make sure that we're doing something that is going to reduce the growth in cost over the long term, expand access, improve the quality of care. Do that in a fiscally responsible way that does not increase, increase unduly the burden on average Americans today. That's the basic test. And we're going to try to make sure that we achieve that with the broadest consensus as possible.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You want broad consensus but Senator Grassley, his colleague Senator Enzi are saying that they need those assurances, that can't get them?
GEITHNER: Well again, you know (laughs) we want to make sure we get this done. And we're gonna- as the President's said, we're going to look at anything reasonable, consistent with those principles that's going to get this done.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You want it to be through consensus, the President has said he wants a bipartisan bill if possible, but do you believe it is possible if necessary to get meaningful health care reform with democrats only?
GEITHNER: George, I think that again this is a big consequential reform of the country. And as many people observes, ideally you want to do this with as broad a base of consensus as possible. But people on the hill are going to have to make that choice, do they want to help shape this and be part of it. Or do they want this country, the United States of America, to go another several decades without doing whatever other serious country has done, which is to give their citizens access to basic quality of care.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But if Republicans can't come to an agreement with the democrats are the Democrats and the White House willing to go it to alone?
GEITHNER: George, again, we're going to try and get this done on the best possible terms consistent with those principles. Can't tell you what it's going to take. But you see what the President is trying to do.
As gratifying as it is to hear tough talk from the Dems, though, there are some very serious drawbacks to doing it through the reconciliation process. It would require Obama to walk quite a political tightrope after dangling major healthcare reform in front of the voters:
Americans United for Change just put out a new ad. The Republican tactic to stall the bill is their idea on how to destroy it. The ad is quite good and falls in line with what I've been saying. To stall the bill is an attempt to kill the bill. Say No to the August Recess if Congress can't get their act together. I've been contacting the Senate for quotes to see if they will forego their vacation to work on health care.
The Republicans claim the health insurance reform debate has been moving at lightning speed.
In fact for 15 years, it’s hardly moved at all.
Now the Republicans say Congress should slow down?
Meanwhile premiums have gone up 3 times faster than wages, health insurance profits have soared and 14,000 Americans lose their health insurance everyday.
Now the Republicans say Congress should slow down?
That’s because when something goes slow enough it’s easy to kill it dead in its tracks.
Tell Congress you want health insurance reform NOW.
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I've been asking members of Congress if they would forego their August recess to make sure health care won't get left behind. Why shouldn't republicans and democrats work instead of taking a holiday? Since I asked President Obama if he should demand that Congress stay in DC to work on health care in August the media has picked it up too and now we're getting statements from Congress saying they would work instead of taking a holiday.
I asked Blue America's Sen. Jeff Merkley (OR) if he would give up the August recess to make sure legislation gets done. Here's his reply:
"I'm committed to passing health care reform and I'm extremely concerned that the window of opportunity is starting to close. Anything that can speed up Senate deliberation is valuable. And if keeping the Senate in session in August can move the bill forward, I'm absolutely committed to being here."
Sen. Merkley is committed to reforming health care and he now joins the list of members who have said they will work in August. Thanks so much Senator.
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Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and the author of the meaningless "co opt" plan appeared on ABC's THIS WEEK and said that even with a 60 vote majority in the Senate a health care bill can't get passed without Republicans.
It's just not possible to have a Democrat-only bill?" I asked Sen. Conrad.
"No, it is not possible," he told me, "and perhaps not desirable either. We're probably going to get a better product if we go through the tough business of debate, consideration, and analysis of what we're proposing."
Conrad would not commit to Obama's August recess deadline for health reform legislation.
"Look the critical think is that we do get this right. This is going to affect every American. Very few legislative initiatives affect every single American. And it's one-sixth of the national economy, so it's critically important we get it right. But that shouldn't be used as a pretext to kill it," Conrad told me on "This Week."
Conrad added, "Jim, I think has been very clear, he wants to kill it. And I think that would be a tragedy because we've got a crisis here for the country."
The follow up question should have been "why can't Democrats pass health care legislature with a 60 vote majority?" That would be asking a little too much. The conservative Dems are destroying any real chance we have at reform. Here's a memo to these bipartisan trolls. Republicans want to kill the bill and destroy President Obama's presidency. WingnutterJim DeMint from SC already said it so why does Conrad feel that he can work with them? Orrin Hatch dropped out of the negotiations for a reason. I'll be calling Conrad's office on Monday and ask him to work through the August recess if they try to stall the bill.
♫♪Vacation, all I ever wanted...Vacation, had to get away♫♪ I'm sure that there is some wistful whistling in the halls of Congress, however we're going to be amping up the pressure--bolstered by Nancy Pelosi and James Clyburn--to demand that Congress forgo their August recess to keep working on health care reform. Health care reform will be one of the topics of discussion this Sunday morning. Unfortunately, another topic will clearly be Henry Louis Gates' arrest, because the media will never pass up a shiny distraction in lieu of what really matters, like honest discussion of health care reform.
Instead, we'll have Mitch "Luntz's BFF" McConnell providing a lying counterpoint to Nancy Pelosi on State of the Union, and Sen. Jim "Hissy Fit" DeMint shouting over Sen. Kent Conrad on This Week. If that doesn't strike your fancy, David "Can't Carry Cronkite's Jockstrap" Gregory will be interviewing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about her recent travels to India and Thailand, but you know he won't be able to keep himself from asking about some imagined insurrection by Clinton against Obama. Oh look, David, another bright shiny thing to distract you instead of the real life issues Americans deserve to know about.
ABC's "This Week" - Sens. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and Jim DeMint, R-S.C.
CBS' "Face the Nation" - David Axelrod, White House senior adviser; Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn.; Gov. Bobby Jindal, R-La.
NBC's "Meet the Press" - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show" - Panel: Howard Fineman, Michele Norris, Michael Duffy, Ceci Connolly. Topics: Was President Obama right to enter the fray over the Professor Gates arrest? What does the Libby pardon debate say about the Bush-Cheney relationship? Meter Questions: Will a handful of Senate Republicans vote for the final health care bill?
YES: 11 NO: 1; Will Obama sign a health care reform law this year? YES: 12 NO: 0.
CNN's "State of the Union/Reliable Sources" - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Axelrod.
CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" - Trouble brewing in Iran: President Ahmadinejad defies the Supreme Leader in an unprecedented act, and Moussavi -- the candidate who might have actually won the June presidential elections -- announces he will create a large-scale social movement to oppose the government in power. Fareed has the rare opportunity to speak with someone on the ground in Tehran about what is really happening there.
"Fox News Sunday" - White House press secretary Robert Gibbs; Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.
(Majority) Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) told colleagues during a "contentious" closed-door session Thursday that they should postpone the August break until they pass a sweeping health care reform bill.
The Democratic whip says he told his colleagues they will be criticized in the press for leaving town without passing a bill. "I think it will affect our standing with the American people if we don't do this as a party," Clyburn said afterward.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) were both in attendance during the 90-minute session, but Clyburn would not say what their reactions were. The South Carolina Democrat thinks his colleagues will have more opportunities to work through disputes than they will if they leave town.
We salute Clyburn for taking the correct steps in trying to work this thing out and not be afraid what all Americans are thing. Recess, recess?
As Mr. Obama took questions from his audience in Shaker Heights, he was asked whether he intended to call on Democratic leaders in Congress to cancel their August recess to try to reach a compromise on health care. For now, he said, he had no plans to do so.
Keep up the heat. The more Americans put pressure on their precious month long play time the more willing they will be to get the legislation done.
We've just started making this a priority so the list has just begun.
Senator Wyden
Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Rep. James Clyburn
The negotiations between House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and seven conservative Democrats on his panel fell apart Friday afternoon after the chairman told reporters he could move the bill to the floor without a committee vote.
Arkansas Rep. Mike Ross, the top negotiator for conservative Democrats in the Blue Dog Coalition, told reporters Friday that the negotiations "pretty much fell apart this afternoon."
In a meeting with Blue Dogs Friday, Waxman rescinded two previous concessions to help cut health care costs over time and ensure the government-sponsored health care won't impede on the private market. Asked how this leaves the negotiations, Ross said it "leaves the chairman with not enough votes to get it out of committee."
